The Needs Asessment phase of the Big Buyers Working Together project recently culminated with the identification of collaboration topics through active bilateral and group exchanges with interested Public Authorities (PAs). As a result of this, the BBWT Secretariat is pleased to announce the launch of the first one of the 10 Community of Practices (CoPs) envisaged!

Led by the City of Oslo and coordinated by Eurocities, the CoP Zero Emission Construction Sites (ZECS) will be a continuation of the work of the Working Group (WG) ZEMCON which existed within the previous iteration of the Big Buyers. The WG was a success, undertaking activities such as joint market dialogue with the construction machinery producers, exchange of experiences on pilot projects, and development of a Joint Statement of Demand to show the market actors that there was a demand and commitment to purchase emission free machines throughout Europe. The newly established CoP ZECS will build upon the success from the former group, and will bring together PAs from across Europe, including the City of Helsinki, City of Copenhagen, City of Oslo, District of Neukolln in Berlin, City of Barcelona, the Central Government Real Estate Agency of the Netherlands, Infrastructure Malta, Helsinki Region Environmental Service Authority (HSY), as well as others who may join during the lifetime of the CoP.

Once officially launched, the CoP will develop its own Community Road Map to define objectives and collaboration activities through which the PAs will effectively address sector-specific opportunities and challenges. Although the specific topic of the CoP has not been defined yet, the NA has showed that, aside from availability of technologies to power construction site machineries, the PAs are also interested in business models for ZECS, scaling up of existing pilot projects, merging the topic of circular materials with the topic of ZECS, tackling the environmental and social responsibility aspect in the batteries production chain, etc.

More details about the date of the launching of the CoP ZECS will be available soon. In the meantime, potential new participants are encouraged to report their interest in the Project and to use the opportunity to shape the work of our 10 CoPs. If you work for a PA, and you think that you could provide added value to the CoP and benefit from it, you are welcome to express your interest by sending an email to Danko Aleksic, Project Coordinator, at danko.aleksic@eurocities.eu